Paramount Presents titles coming to 4K UHD - Page 4 - Blu-ray Forum

Worship.my.wreck · 12-12-2021, 08:58 PM

Come on, Coneheads

themp3000 · 12-12-2021, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBondFan

Vanilla Sky in 4K ?

I would buy this so insanely fast.

Acer2010 · 12-12-2021, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Where's my free stuff? I asked for it yesterday.

No need to be rude.

BenjaminG · 12-12-2021, 09:13 PM

For international people (like me):

Seeing Classics—and More—Afresh

The Paramount Presents series of Blu-rays, each from a new transfer scanned in at least 4K, now stands at nearly 30 titles

By David Mermelstein
Dec. 7, 2021 5:29 pm ET

It’s a popular trope that Hollywood has a short memory—even as home video, from VHS to 4K Ultra HD, has gone a long way toward returning old movies to the public eye. Yet the big studios aren’t always in the vanguard of such reappraisals. Though Warner Bros. did a commendable job early in the DVD era, as did Twentieth Century-Fox occasionally, Universal, Columbia and Paramount largely allowed their legacies to languish.

Now the last of those is making up for that with Paramount Presents, a continuing series of Blu-rays begun last year that currently stands at nearly 30 titles, each from a new transfer scanned in at least 4K. Even those movies previously on Blu-ray (about a third of the current roster) have received a marked upgrade in image quality. The latest, Hal Ashby’s beloved “Harold and Maude” (1971), arrived Tuesday.

Each release is limited to between 5,000 and 10,000 copies, so those with affection for the titles in this series should act quickly. One of the best so far, William Wyler’s “Roman Holiday” (1953), is already officially sold-out, though copies may still be available through certain third-party sellers.

Not every title is a classic. “The Golden Child” (1986), starring Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Crowe’s “Elizabethtown” (2005) certainly aren’t. But both Mr. Murphy and Mr. Crowe are also represented by more compelling efforts— John Landis’s deliciously barbed comedy “Trading Places” (1983) and the winsome coming-of-age picture “Almost Famous” (2000), respectively.

That last movie comes in a two-disc edition featuring a welcome “bootleg” (i.e., director’s) cut, with, among other things, more of Frances McDormand as the young protagonist’s formidable mother. And Milos Forman’s inexplicably underrated adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel “Ragtime” (1981), just out last month, includes a “director’s cut workprint” of the film on a supplemental Blu-ray, with nearly 20 minutes added to the picture’s standard 2 1/2 -hour run time. (With its monochromatic insertions, the reconstructed workprint has not been restored in 4K.)

Paramount shortsightedly sold off much of its cinematic heritage in 1958, and its library of films from 1929 through 1948, Hollywood’s vaunted golden age, is now controlled by Universal. So there’s an enormous gap between the series’ oldest entry, “The Sheik” (1921), the silent-era desert romance that secured Rudolph Valentino’s iconic status, and everything else issued thus far. But you have to doff your hat to a studio that places a century-old movie like that alongside “Pretty in Pink” (1986), the charmingly offbeat teen romance that marked the apex of Molly Ringwald’s career, and “Bugsy Malone” (1976), Alan Parker’s adorable first, and most uncharacteristic, picture, an all-juvenile musical sendup of the Prohibition era, with a young Jodie Foster as a gangster’s moll.

There are also some undisputed mid-20th-century gems here. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, to say nothing of the Côte d’Azur, look incomparably glamorous in Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” (1955), filmed in VistaVision, the widescreen format Paramount created to combat television’s ascendancy. And George Stevens earned his first Academy Award as best director for “A Place in the Sun” (1951), his truncated but palpitating adaptation of “An American Tragedy,” Theodore Dreiser’s heartrending novel skewering the American Dream. These days, the movie’s stars—Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters, all in peak form—may be its biggest draw, but the disquieting contrasts of William C. Mellor’s Oscar-winning black-and-white cinematography set the tone.

Two films with hues so vibrant as to be almost distracting deserve attention as well. Cecil B. DeMille’s penultimate spectacle, “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), shot in three-strip Technicolor, earned a best-picture Oscar. Its virtues, though, lie not in its soap-opera plot, but rather in the extensive documentary footage of the Ringling Bros. circus at the height of its fame.

And “The Court Jester” (1956), with the added kick of VistaVision, preserves the singular art of the entertainer Danny Kaye at his best—in a faux-medieval farce with no less than Basil Rathbone and Angela Lansbury as foils.

Bonus features on the discs vary widely. “Harold and Maude” comes with a new commentary track featuring the screenwriter Larry Karaszewski and Mr. Crowe, whose presence looms perhaps a bit too large throughout this series. But other discs are lucky to get a short, if authoritative, introduction by Leonard Maltin, and sometimes not even that.

Film buffs have every reason to wonder if they really need yet another iteration of a movie they adore but may already own several times over, thanks to changing technology and enticing extras. Should those who already have, say, Criterion’s excellent editions of “Harold and Maude” and Robert Altman’s “Nashville” (1975)—both now, naturally, out-of-print—hurry to buy Paramount’s new versions? In fact, probably yes, if they really love the films in question, because these new transfers are that good, albeit only incrementally better in the case of the two examples above.

More titles are coming early next year, including John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962) and Robert Redford’s Oscar-winning “Ordinary People” (1980). And, yes, 4K Ultra HD versions of some of these pictures will arrive soon. For a few of us at least, that means more buying. I’m told there are worse habits.

—Mr. Mermelstein writes for the Journal on film and classical music.

Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Appeared in the December 8, 2021, print edition as 'Seeing Classics—And More—Afresh.'

captainsolo · 12-12-2021, 09:15 PM

Sadly they’re not going to fix To Catch a Thief but at least there’s hope for a proper Liberty Valance which has been the most important Paramount title stuck in crappy versions.

PopcornBandit · 12-12-2021, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by revoloution

I would love for John Woo's Face/Off to be given a full 4K release next year, It's owned by Disney overseas but Paramount hold the US rights

This is definitely my most wanted upgrade. Next year is the 25th anniversary so hopefully we'll get...something.

Acer2010 · 12-12-2021, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainsolo

Sadly they’re not going to fix To Catch a Thief but at least there’s hope for a proper Liberty Valance which has been the most important Paramount title stuck in crappy versions.

They might fix it; you never know.

Laservampire · 12-12-2021, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acer2010

They might fix it; you never know.

One would hope. There's so much DNR on there it looks out of focus!

SpazeBlue · 12-12-2021, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenjaminG

Seeing Classics—and More—Afresh

The Paramount Presents series of Blu-rays, each from a new transfer scanned in at least 4K, now stands at nearly 30 titles

By David Mermelstein
Dec. 7, 2021 5:29 pm ET

Even those movies previously on Blu-ray (about a third of the current roster) have received a marked upgrade in image quality.

There are also some undisputed mid-20th-century gems here. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, to say nothing of the Côte d’Azur, look incomparably glamorous in Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” (1955)

dallywhitty · 12-12-2021, 11:34 PM

Where's my remastered theatrical cut release of The Warriors, Paramount!?

nick4Knight · 12-13-2021, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Marcus

...Also, for the love of God, Paramount, do something with The Untouchables!

This is the Paramount title I'm most astounded has not been given some love. And is high up from them on my wishlist. So I admit I'm biased because I don't really care about these other Paramount ones being mentioned but this had freakin Bond in it and a currently still bankable lead for mini-series, TV and movies.

You can't say that about the others. Untouchables, finally being treated like it deserves, on the other hand; is still optimistically high sales catalog fodder. Or maybe the answer is they don't think so!

Markgway · 12-13-2021, 04:31 AM

Yes, UHD lovely. But Paramount being Paramount still won't include the original audio tracks. Dead Again and Another 48 Hrs. actually dropped the lossy ones they had on their DVDs! It's sad that after 25-30 years the best audio is still to be found on laserdiscs (Beverly Hills Cop II being a good example). Unless people complain we won't get the originals. American peeps need to e-mail Paramount and tell them what we want.

Also, I'm not sure I could stand a UHD of Trading Places if its mastering is as faulty as the BD (see also Coming to America).

IPreferPi · 12-13-2021, 04:48 AM

Would love 4Ks of Ghost, Airplane!, Fatal Attraction, A Place in the Sun, Roman Holiday, and To Catch a Thief. Certainly would love to see Days of Heaven, Rosemary's Baby, Ordinary People, and Beverly Hills Cop II on 4K as well.

Blu Balls · 12-13-2021, 05:08 AM

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off would be cool. Ohhhh, Yeah!

DR Herbert West · 12-13-2021, 06:12 AM

Breakdown, please.

plissken99 · 12-13-2021, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weirded Wonder

I really wish they would release Black Rain in 4K.

I’ll second that, good looking movie, lots of 4K potential. That, Event Horizon and the rest of the Star Trek films would make me a happy camper.

Ryan1973 · 12-13-2021, 06:27 AM

Give me The Untouchables and Black Rain in 4K DV please!

lilboyblu · 12-13-2021, 06:32 AM

White Christmas 4K too, please.

AdmiralNoodles · 12-13-2021, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan1973

Give me The Untouchables and Black Rain in 4K DV please!

Same with the original cinematic audio track in lossless!

Kris Deering · 12-13-2021, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPreferPi

Would love 4Ks of Ghost, Airplane!, Fatal Attraction, A Place in the Sun, Roman Holiday, and To Catch a Thief. Certainly would love to see Days of Heaven, Rosemary's Baby, Ordinary People, and Beverly Hills Cop II on 4K as well.

Honestly, this is one of the major reasons I just moved away from discs and now have Kaleidescape. A lot of these are already on there in 4K HDR at full disc quality (Ghost, Airplane, Fatal Attraction, To Catch a Thief just off the top of my head) and Paramount has been adding more every week. You can see what I mean here:

https://www.kaleidescape.com/movie-s...mount_pictures

Yes, it is a steep cost of entry, but I'm tired of waiting for a disc to deliver something it likely never will.

12-12-2021, 08:58 PM	#61
Worship.my.wreck Blu-ray Champion Member since:Apr 2016 4K collection:369 Blu-ray collection:2023 DVD collection:121	Come on, Coneheads

12-12-2021, 09:13 PM	#64
BenjaminG Power Member Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Australia 4K collection:516 Blu-ray collection:1089 Trading Score:33	For international people (like me): Seeing Classics—and More—Afresh The Paramount Presents series of Blu-rays, each from a new transfer scanned in at least 4K, now stands at nearly 30 titles By David Mermelstein Dec. 7, 2021 5:29 pm ET It’s a popular trope that Hollywood has a short memory—even as home video, from VHS to 4K Ultra HD, has gone a long way toward returning old movies to the public eye. Yet the big studios aren’t always in the vanguard of such reappraisals. Though Warner Bros. did a commendable job early in the DVD era, as did Twentieth Century-Fox occasionally, Universal, Columbia and Paramount largely allowed their legacies to languish. Now the last of those is making up for that with Paramount Presents, a continuing series of Blu-rays begun last year that currently stands at nearly 30 titles, each from a new transfer scanned in at least 4K. Even those movies previously on Blu-ray (about a third of the current roster) have received a marked upgrade in image quality. The latest, Hal Ashby’s beloved “Harold and Maude” (1971), arrived Tuesday. Each release is limited to between 5,000 and 10,000 copies, so those with affection for the titles in this series should act quickly. One of the best so far, William Wyler’s “Roman Holiday” (1953), is already officially sold-out, though copies may still be available through certain third-party sellers. Not every title is a classic. “The Golden Child” (1986), starring Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Crowe’s “Elizabethtown” (2005) certainly aren’t. But both Mr. Murphy and Mr. Crowe are also represented by more compelling efforts— John Landis’s deliciously barbed comedy “Trading Places” (1983) and the winsome coming-of-age picture “Almost Famous” (2000), respectively. That last movie comes in a two-disc edition featuring a welcome “bootleg” (i.e., director’s) cut, with, among other things, more of Frances McDormand as the young protagonist’s formidable mother. And Milos Forman’s inexplicably underrated adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel “Ragtime” (1981), just out last month, includes a “director’s cut workprint” of the film on a supplemental Blu-ray, with nearly 20 minutes added to the picture’s standard 2 1/2 -hour run time. (With its monochromatic insertions, the reconstructed workprint has not been restored in 4K.) Paramount shortsightedly sold off much of its cinematic heritage in 1958, and its library of films from 1929 through 1948, Hollywood’s vaunted golden age, is now controlled by Universal. So there’s an enormous gap between the series’ oldest entry, “The Sheik” (1921), the silent-era desert romance that secured Rudolph Valentino’s iconic status, and everything else issued thus far. But you have to doff your hat to a studio that places a century-old movie like that alongside “Pretty in Pink” (1986), the charmingly offbeat teen romance that marked the apex of Molly Ringwald’s career, and “Bugsy Malone” (1976), Alan Parker’s adorable first, and most uncharacteristic, picture, an all-juvenile musical sendup of the Prohibition era, with a young Jodie Foster as a gangster’s moll. There are also some undisputed mid-20th-century gems here. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, to say nothing of the Côte d’Azur, look incomparably glamorous in Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” (1955), filmed in VistaVision, the widescreen format Paramount created to combat television’s ascendancy. And George Stevens earned his first Academy Award as best director for “A Place in the Sun” (1951), his truncated but palpitating adaptation of “An American Tragedy,” Theodore Dreiser’s heartrending novel skewering the American Dream. These days, the movie’s stars—Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters, all in peak form—may be its biggest draw, but the disquieting contrasts of William C. Mellor’s Oscar-winning black-and-white cinematography set the tone. Two films with hues so vibrant as to be almost distracting deserve attention as well. Cecil B. DeMille’s penultimate spectacle, “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), shot in three-strip Technicolor, earned a best-picture Oscar. Its virtues, though, lie not in its soap-opera plot, but rather in the extensive documentary footage of the Ringling Bros. circus at the height of its fame. And “The Court Jester” (1956), with the added kick of VistaVision, preserves the singular art of the entertainer Danny Kaye at his best—in a faux-medieval farce with no less than Basil Rathbone and Angela Lansbury as foils. Bonus features on the discs vary widely. “Harold and Maude” comes with a new commentary track featuring the screenwriter Larry Karaszewski and Mr. Crowe, whose presence looms perhaps a bit too large throughout this series. But other discs are lucky to get a short, if authoritative, introduction by Leonard Maltin, and sometimes not even that. Film buffs have every reason to wonder if they really need yet another iteration of a movie they adore but may already own several times over, thanks to changing technology and enticing extras. Should those who already have, say, Criterion’s excellent editions of “Harold and Maude” and Robert Altman’s “Nashville” (1975)—both now, naturally, out-of-print—hurry to buy Paramount’s new versions? In fact, probably yes, if they really love the films in question, because these new transfers are that good, albeit only incrementally better in the case of the two examples above. More titles are coming early next year, including John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962) and Robert Redford’s Oscar-winning “Ordinary People” (1980). And, yes, 4K Ultra HD versions of some of these pictures will arrive soon. For a few of us at least, that means more buying. I’m told there are worse habits. —Mr. Mermelstein writes for the Journal on film and classical music. Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Appeared in the December 8, 2021, print edition as 'Seeing Classics—And More—Afresh.'

12-12-2021, 09:15 PM	#65
captainsolo Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Jan 2011 4K collection:155 Blu-ray collection:1268 DVD collection:353 Blu-ray reviews:3 Trading Score:19	Sadly they’re not going to fix To Catch a Thief but at least there’s hope for a proper Liberty Valance which has been the most important Paramount title stuck in crappy versions.

12-12-2021, 11:34 PM	#70
dallywhitty Blu-ray Grand Duke Top contributor Member since:Aug 2009 Location:Temple of Isis 4K collection:323 Blu-ray collection:1689 DVD collection:178	Where's my remastered theatrical cut release of The Warriors, Paramount!?

12-13-2021, 04:31 AM	#72
Markgway Blu-ray Prince Member since:Jul 2013 Location:Scotland Trading Score:13	Yes, UHD lovely. But Paramount being Paramount still won't include the original audio tracks. Dead Again and Another 48 Hrs. actually dropped the lossy ones they had on their DVDs! It's sad that after 25-30 years the best audio is still to be found on laserdiscs (Beverly Hills Cop II being a good example). Unless people complain we won't get the originals. American peeps need to e-mail Paramount and tell them what we want. Also, I'm not sure I could stand a UHD of Trading Places if its mastering is as faulty as the BD (see also Coming to America).

12-13-2021, 04:48 AM	#73
IPreferPi Power Member Member since:Mar 2011 4K collection:566 Blu-ray collection:880 Trading Score:125	Would love 4Ks of Ghost, Airplane!, Fatal Attraction, A Place in the Sun, Roman Holiday, and To Catch a Thief. Certainly would love to see Days of Heaven, Rosemary's Baby, Ordinary People, and Beverly Hills Cop II on 4K as well.

12-13-2021, 05:08 AM	#74
Blu Balls Power Member Member since:Oct 2008 Location:Northern Illinois Blu-ray collection:70 Blu-ray reviews:73	Ferris Bueller’s Day Off would be cool. Ohhhh, Yeah!

12-13-2021, 06:12 AM	#75
DR Herbert West Blu-ray King Top contributor Member since:May 2018 Location:Arkham, MA Trading Score:8	Breakdown, please.

12-13-2021, 06:27 AM	#77
Ryan1973 Special Member Member since:Apr 2010	Give me The Untouchables and Black Rain in 4K DV please!

12-13-2021, 06:32 AM	#78
lilboyblu Blu-ray Knight Top contributor Member since:Apr 2010 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Trading Score:19	White Christmas 4K too, please.

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